Monday, November 30, 2009

Some News for Mon Nov 30, 2009

SEE YOU THERE

One of the most anticipated events of the past 3 years happens this Friday as FIFA hold the draw for the 2010 South Africa World Cup.Where will your favorite end up?Who will they have to play in the Group Stage?And who will land in the Group of Death?

Jeremy Schaap of ESPN on Twitter last night: "Interviewed Charlie Davies today. Brief clip on SportsCenter at 11 ET. Lede: He expects to be playing in SA next June. Recovering quickly"-The US National Sccoer Players Association has a recap of that interview.-If anyone can find video I would love to share it.

MLS CHAMPIONS REAL SALT LAKE

After struggling all season with a huge lack of consistency, the team had an 18 day break from games in early October, and after that they tore it up going 6-0-1 on the way to their first championship.

MLS has sent a team of young players who are on special Generation Adidas contracts to South Africa for 3 friendlies. The first was played today.-3 players on the original roster did not go to South Africa due to various reasons - Tristan Bowen (Los Angeles) - personal matters, Ciaran O'Brien (Colorado) - Injury, and Brek Shea (Dallas) - Hair related.Match & Score:-Mon Nov 30Orlando Pirates reserves v MLS GA - MGA goals by Chris Pontius & Patrick Nyarko.

MLS RUMORS

Any rumor of Mexican centerback Rafa Marquez signing with a MLS team ended today when he signed a contract extension at Barcelona through 2012.

DENMARK - SuperligaBenny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus - went the full 90 as they won 1-0 at home over Brondby.Michael Parkhurst - Nordsjaelland - played the whole match but they lost 0-1 at home to Silkeborg.Marcus Tracy - AaB - started and went 74 minutes as they drew at Esbjerg 1-1.Jeremiah White - AGF Aarhus - came on as a 83rd minute sub in a 1-0 home win over Brondby.

ENGLAND - PremiershipJozy Altidore - Hull City - started and went 73 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Manchester City.Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of a home 1-1 draw against Bolton.Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in goal as usual but only drew at home 1-1 against Tottenham.Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton - got a game for a change, but lost 0-1 at home to Birmingham.Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 and lost 0-2 to Liverpool.Jonathan Spector - West Ham - played the entire game as they beat Burnley 5-3 at home.

ENGLAND - ChampionshipFrank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - went the distance, but probably would have rather been home in bed as they got clobbered at home 0-4 by West Bromich.

ENGLAND - League OneMike Grella - Leeds - started and played 71 minutes as they drew 1-1 at Kettering Town.

FRANCE - Ligue 1Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played all 90, got a Yellow Card and also got a 1-1 road draw at Lyon. Not bad.

Matches, Scores & Thoughts:-Sat Nov 28Sporting 0-0 Benfica - the battle of Lisbon ends scoreless, but Benfica remains at #1-Sun Nov 29Everton 0-2 Liverpool - the Red side of the city wins the Liverpool derby, leaving the Blue side in an ever worsening position this season.Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea - a huge win for the visitors in a lesser London derby, putting a wider gap, now 11 points, between the two.Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid - Barca dominated their home leg of El Clasico even at the end when they played with only 10.Inter 1-0 Fiorentina - the champs controlled most of the game but could not finish, needing a late PK to get the deserved win.Olympiakos v Panathinaikos - "The Derby of the Eternal Enemies" sees Oly win and leap their rivals into 1st place! Great drama.

An Inter win and a Juventus loss opens the gap at the top to 6 points again, but this time it's AC Milan in the second spot and Juve dropping to third. 8 points back now.-And next Saturday Juve host Inter!

The Big Finish - With 1 round left to play in the Campeanato Brasileiro we are down to the last 4 teams who have a legit chance for the title. Unfortunately we don't have any head to head matchups to look forward to.

Some good audio and video from EPL Talk that you need to check out:-Audio: an interview with Robbie Earle, top English TV commentator who lead Wimbeldon during their best years, and played for the Reggae Boyz in the 98 World Cup.-Video: A really high quality video on the FA Cup featuring a Visit to Millwall.

ENDERS

I don't know if any of you know who Mike Penner is, but he's a long time writer for the Los Angeles Times who has struggled greatly with gender identity. And he passed away last Friday. Scott French who has written about soccer for a long time, and was an acquaintance of Penner wrote this remembrance at Real Clear Sports. RIP Mike.

wow, the mike/christine penner article was powerful, funny and sad...when he started talking about music towards the end it was hard not to tear up...oh the struggles we have...some more than others. stay strong and keep your heads up everyone, someone out there has got your back! dang